This invention relates to electronic databases in general, and more specifically to a method and apparatus for mapping one catalog into another catalog in which the first catalog uses a different format from the second catalog.
Searchable electronic catalogs are commonly used in support of electronic commerce and purchasing functions. These electronic catalogs typically are rendered into databases, HTML page collections and other electronic means. Individual purchaser or marketplace system installations benefit by maintaining a single catalog rather than several different catalogs from several different sources. With multiple catalogs, for example, an office supply procurement system may contain office supply catalogs from several different office supply vendors or manufacturers. Some of the catalogs may describe identical items such as a blue pen while each catalog will likely describe similar but different items, such as different makes of blue pens. By combining the catalogs into a single catalog, desired items can be found and compared more quickly and easily than with multiple catalogs.
Unfortunately, different purchaser and marketplace installations have different specifications for a combined electronic catalog. These specifications arise from differences in languages and measuring, from regional legal requirements, from needs in the particular industry or marketplace or from preferences of the catalog user. Different preferences in categorizing items also create different requirements. Still, for optimum catalog usage, it is preferred that all desired items are included in a single catalog and described in a consistent way so that the greatest choice of items can be readily and quickly found and compared. In order to satisfy the differing needs of purchasers and marketplaces, it is desirable to be able to create catalogs in different formats from a single electronic catalog, a source catalog. The source catalog supports purchases from many vendors quickly and efficiently. It is consistently updated and maintained. Yet the source catalog may not be in just the format which is desired by some purchasers or marketplaces. It may not have the desired units of measurement required by a particular buyer or it may not list country of manufacture using a convention desired in a particular marketplace. Attributes may be combined for some items where it is preferred that they be separate or vice versa. The present invention allows an electronic catalog in one format to be quickly converted into an electronic catalog in another format. The electronic catalog can be mapped from or into the source catalog or from or into any other format that is desired or preferred for the intended application.
In a preferred embodiment, the present invention is a method for converting a first electronic catalog, having values for characteristics, such as attributes and categories, for a plurality of items in a first format, into a second electronic catalog having values for characteristics for a plurality of items in a second format. The method includes: identifying a set of items to be converted, identifying the characteristics for each item, accessing the characteristic values for each identified item, accessing mapping rules for each characteristic and each item, mapping the characteristic values for each item in the first catalog into the characteristic identified by the rule for the item in the second catalog, and compiling the mapped characteristic values for each item to form the second catalog. The mapping may include converting characteristic values for each item to be mapped into the second catalog into new characteristic values for the second catalog using conversion methods provided by the accessed rule. The conversion method may include converting the expression of the characteristic values from one form to another, translating a characteristic value from one language into another, converting a measure from one unit of measure to another, replacing an abbreviation with another abbreviation, or changing the order of values for a characteristic into another order.
In a further preferred embodiment, the accessed mapping rule specifies a default characteristic value into which the first catalog characteristic value is mapped and also specifies an alternate characteristic value into which the first characteristic value is to be mapped for special cases. The special cases apply to particular identified items, to particular identified attributes, or to particular identified categories. Different mapping rules may be specified as a default for different characteristics as well as for the same characteristic in different categories or groups of items.